Many different types of materials and products of small size are carried in blisters of blister packs. These packs are made up of cardboard cards having one or more blisters extending outwardly from holes in such a card so that each blister forms a pocket which is normally closed by a foil or other cover over the hole. Each blister is typically made from a transparent plastic material which can be severed by a knife or other cutting tool to gain access to the materials carried by the blister itself.
Among the various products which have been found to be suitably packaged in blister cards are medicinal materials, more specifically, one or more pills in each blister of a blister card. Also, small hardware stems, such as nuts and bolts, can be packaged in blisters of a blister card. Generally, these blister cards have a number of holes in them which are closed by blisters above a bottom layer of foil material which can be easily severed. Also, the blister for each hole extends upwardly from the upper surface thereof. The blisters are opened by hand by pressing inwardly on each blister one-by-one by the use of the thumbs.
The opening of the blisters of a blister card becomes an arduous and time consuming task when a nurse, for instance, must manually open the blister packs for a number of patients during the period when medication, such as a single pill, is to be given to the patients. Distributing a number of pills to a patient presents a problem because of the large number of patients in a hospital ward which must be given a relatively large number of pills, such as two or more, at each dosage time, over a given time period. Thus, a need exists for improved apparatus and a method for dispensing of materials, such as medicinal materials, in a way to facilitate the delivery of one or more medicinal items to a patient yet minimize the time required on the part of a nurse or other attendant to deliver and dispense the items to a number of patients. The present invention satisfies this need.
Disclosures of apparatus and methods of dispensing materials are found in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Name Issue Date ______________________________________ 1,575,972 Cochran 03/09/1926 2,366,886 Van Tuyl 01/09/1945 3,279,651 Thompson 10/18/1966 4,690,279 Hochberg 09/01/1987 4,909,414 Heath 03/20/1990 4,975,015 Harding 12/04/1990 5,009,561 Lombardino 04/23/1991 5,038,968 Albetski 08/13/1991 ______________________________________